Breevast bets big on SoMa spec office

Part of a one-two punch of Brannan Street’s brick and timber renaissance, Breevast is ready to start digging at 345 Brannan St.

The Amsterdam-based investment and development company is going speculative on a 115,000-square-foot, five-story building that will replace a 95-space surface parking lot. Swinerton will build the office complex, which is being designed by Charles Bloszies Architecture.
“We are getting ready to break ground with in the next 60 days, and we are excited about that,” said Terry Crowley, CEO of Breevast’s U.S. division.
The building is directly to the west of 333 Brannan St., a 180,000-square-foot development that Kilroy Realty Corp. started work on late last year.
While the two projects have separate ownership, Breevast and Kilroy are coordinating construction so that a single tenant could take both structures and have a 295,000-square-foot campus.
“We have collaborated on some mutual flexibility,” he said. “Combined it would be a spectacular corporate campus.”
Swinerton is the contractor on both buildings. The 345 Brannan building will face Jack London alley, which connects to South Park. It will share a courtyard with its neighbor at 333 — the entrances of the two buildings with face off across a shared plaza.
“The planning department encouraged us to work together in designing the courtyard,” Charles Bloszies said. “We worked on common design features. We made sure that both buildings can stand on their own, but there was an opportunity to create an outdoor room that makes sense.”
Companies that have taken a serious look at both projects include Dropbox and Pinterest, according to market chatter.
Mike Brown and Bill Benton of Cornish & Carey Newmark Knight Frank have the listing.
“Terry has spared no expense in designing the building. It will be spectacular in terms of meeting the needs of companies today and tomorrow, in terms of ceiling heights, HVAC systems, the 7,000-square-foot deck and green open space,” said Brown. “Interest is very strong and we have not even broken ground yet.”
Breevast has owned the parcel since 2004. When the developer bought the building it was mired in the Eastern Neighborhoods rezoning, a decade-long process that resulted in the height limit on the block getting elevated from 50 to 65 feet. With the new zoning, a four-story building became a five-story building.
The new zoning coincided with the market crash, which meant that the property remained a parking lot for a few extra years. “It’s crazy that this land had sat there undeveloped all these years in the bull’s eye of the most creative part of SoMa,” said Benton.
Bloszies said he wanted a building that fits into the historic industrial context — concrete construction, tall ceilings, exposed systems, open floorplan — but also one that would be attractive to contemporary tech tenants. The building exterior has a terracotta rainscreen similar to the one used at One Kearny St., another Bloszies building. “The tech market likes old buildings for the reason we all like old buildings,” he said.
The two projects on the 300 block are in fact just two of four proposed developments along Brannan. SKS Development and partner Mitsui Fudosan America plan to break ground this year on 270 Brannan St., a 202,000-square-foot project. And Tishman Speyer is proposing a 700,000 square foot development at 598 Brannan St.

J.K. Dineen covers real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.J.K. DineenReporter-San Francisco Business Times